Being able to upgrade your weapons and the weapons of your party members is a very important part of RPGs, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is no stranger to having a bunch of different kinds to mess around with, and, of course, upgrades are available too.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 - Gustave Character Trailer
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 gives fans more details on one of its main characters, Gustave, and why he has chosen to join the expedition.
How Do You Unlock Weapon Upgrades in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33?
While you can upgrade your weapons, it will take a little bit of time. You will first need to recruit a certain character in the Manor of The Flying Waters area. It can take up to 3-4 hours to reach this point of the story.
Even though you will pick up items that are used for weapon upgrades, such as the 
Chroma Catalyst and 
Polished Chroma Catalyst, you won't be able to actually use them until this particular character is in your party.
How to Upgrade Weapons in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
From here on out, there might be some spoilers, as we are going to mention the name of the character that joins your party.
Minor story spoilers below!
Okay, so, Maelle will eventually join the group, and she will introduce the party to a very creepy friend she met named the Curator. Once you make it through the Flying Waters with the trio, a camp cutscene will happen, and you'll get to upgrade your weapons with the help of the Curator.
Speak to him and choose to upgrade your weapons, and you'll get a tutorial explaining how it all works. You'll find him in the nearby cave away from the rest of the group.
The key points to mention about weapon upgrades are..
- The weapons can learn passive effects if you level them up enough, but these effects cannot be equipped on your character like Lumina.
- Make sure to check out the scaling on the weapons. If a weapon has a B in Defense, you want to make sure the character has high defense, as you will deal more damage.
- You need Chroma Catalysts for upgrades, and you'll find these as you explore and defeat enemies.
- Towards the end of the game, you'll be able to perform upgrades at any Rest Point without the help of the Curator.
- Sometimes, if you find a weapon that you've already collected somewhere else, you will instead get a significant upgrade for said weapon.
Upon upgrading your first weapon with the Curator, you'll unlock the lazily-named 'Weapon Upgrade' trophy/achievement (depending on your platform).
You can also access the Curator to upgrade Lumina for your party members, allowing them to equip more Pictos. Doing this will net you the Lumina achievement for consuming a Lumina point.
You can also upgrade your Tints, which are the limited potions you can use during Expedition 33's battles that recover when you rest at an expedition flag. You just need to acquire Shapes of Health, Shapes of Energy, and Shapes of Life.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 92 /100 Critics Rec: 97%
- Released
- April 24, 2025
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Sandfall Interactive
- Publisher(s)
- Kepler Interactive
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Turn-Based RPG, JRPG, Fantasy
